G. N. GOLIKOV and Y. S. TOKAREV. Certain Aspects of Research in V. I. Lenin's April Theses

The article by G. N. Golikov and Y. S. Tokarev examines two questions connected with the creation by V. I. Lenin of his famous April Theses, which determined the Bolshevik Party's strategy in the period between February and October 1917. The first question concerns the exact date of the appearance of the April Theses. Making a close study of available historical sources and Lenin's documents, the authors show how V. I. Lenin, who was in emigration in March 1917, conceived the ideas which subsequently formed the basis of his April Theses, how these ideas were modified following V. I. Lenin's acquaintance with the actual situation in Russia, where he arrived on April 3. Secondly, the authors show that the slogan "All Power to the Soviets" put forward by Lenin in his April Theses had a double meaning: V. I. Lenin had in mind the transfer of power both to the Bolshevik Soviets and to the Soviets dominated by the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries, believing that the latter would assume a Bolshevik character as a result of the resolute and persevering struggle against the compromising tactics of the Mensheviks and Socialist- Revolutionaries. In conclusion the authors stress the vast importance of the April Theses for the destinies of the Bolshevik Party, showing how they became transformed into a programmatic Party document.

G. L. MARYAKHIN. The Principal Stages of the Tax Policy in the U.S.S.R.

The article examines the process of development of the tax system in the U.S.S.R. at all stages of socialist economic progress. The author analyzes the essence and specific features of the Soviet system of taxation, connecting his generalizations and conclusions with the social, class and economic conditions typical of one or another stage in the development of the socialist state. The author singles out the following three periods in the history of Soviet taxes, corresponding to the main stages of Soviet economic development: the period of transition from capitalism to socialism, the period of socialism and the period of full-scale communist construction. Proceeding from a brief characteristic of the pre-revolutionary system of taxation, G. Maryakhin graphically shows how it was changed and utilized in the first stage of the revolution as an instrument for expropriating the expropriators. The article characterizes the taxation policy and its role in implementing the plan of national economic rehabilitation and in carrying out the programme of industrializing the country. The article examines in detail the evolution of the tax system in the period of socialism.

A. MARGULAN. Chokan Valikhanov as Viewed by Russian Contemporaries

Chokan Valikhanov-the remarkable Kazakh humanist, democrat, scientist and traveller of the mid-19th century-was a close friend of many outstanding Russian writers, scientists and public personalities, including the eminent author Fyodor Dosto-yevsky, travaller and geographer P. P. Semyonov-Tienshansky and publicist N. M. Yadrintsev. A. Margulan's article is devoted to Chokan Valikhanov's friendly ties with these representatives of Russian culture and science. The author cites Russian contemporaries' opinions and reminiscences of Valikhanov and his works. A. Margulan stresses that the contacts between progressive-minded Kazakh and Russian intellectuals were mutually beneficial and fruitful, for they helped to strengthen the fraternal ties between the two peoples.

N. A. SIMONIA. The Role of "National Socialisms" in the Revolutions of the Eastern Countries

The article examines an important aspect of contemporary national-liberation revolutions-the problem of the emergence and wide spread in the Eastern countries of unscientific socialist conceptions which are often disguised as national in character. The author tries to disclose both the objective basis of this phenomenon and the influence of

external, international conditions. The objective basis of the emergence of pseudo- scientific varieties of socialism - the insufficient development of material conditions and class relationships in the Eastern countries - is similar to that which gave rise to the same phenomenon in European countries during the early period of their capitalist development. And today too the various concepts of "national socialism" in the Eastern countries serve as an ideological cover for diverse class interests (the petty bourgeoisie, the capitalist class, the backward sections of the proletariat, the moribund feudal classes). At the same time, the existence of the world socialist system in the contemporary epoch leads to serious distinctions in the character of the evolution of the "national socialism" doctrines and their objective historical significance. A close study of the experience of the socialist countries and all-round co-operation with them open up the possibility of the gradual evolution of "national socialisms" towards scientific socialism in those Eastern countries where the process of national liberation brought to power representatives of revolutionary democracy.

M. A. BARG and Academician S. D. SKAZKIN. A History of the Medieval Peasantry in Europe and Principles of Its Elaboration

In connection with the publication of a three-volume "History of the European Peasantry in the Middle Ages" undertaken by the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences' Institute of History, the authors put forward a number of important theoretical and methodological problems, whose solution by Soviet researchers in medieval history can significantly contribute to the correct elucidation of many concrete historical questions. Among these questions, the following are singled out by the authors as having major importance: What is the fundamental distinction of a monographic elaboration of the history of the medieval peasantry from the history of the feudal society as a whole? What must be the structure of the exposition of the consummated periods in the history of the medieval peasantry in order to give an adequate reflection of the most essential specific features of the historical process in each of these periods? What processes in the social history of the peasantry should be recognized as specific ones, around which-from the cognitive point of view- the entire material of the given period is to be concentrated? What is the way of correlating the history of the peasantry with the history of the feudal system at individual stages of its development? Needless to say, the answers proposed by the authors do not exhaust the concrete historical content of the planned work, let alone the history of the peasantry in individual countries. The authors merely regard them as an attempt to bring out the dynamics of history in more subtle nuances than in any previous publication.

L. P. LASHUK. Concerning the Forms of Pre-National Ethnic Ties

The author puts forward, by way of discussion, a number of fundamental problems connected with the definition of the ethnic entity in general and its concrete historical types (models), which appeared in the general process of the socio-economic development of pre-capitalist formations. Regarding ethnic ties as a peculiar generalization of the stable forms of social intercourse within the framework of a given society (separate social organism), the author defines ethnic entity as a socio- economic organism - a stable community of a bigger or lesser number of people speaking the same language, possessing a definite ethnic territory, a single ethnic name and self-consciousness, as well as mutual civil interests (economic, social, political and cultural). All this, taken together and existing in close interaction, constitutes a complex structure of organic connections typical of the ethnic entity. The article examines the concrete historical forms of organic ties existing between diverse tribal associations during the last stage of tribal society and in the period of transition to the early class society, the peculiar "normal" socio-ethnic entity in the ancient East, the character of the ethnic entity of the Hellenes and ancient Romans. The author believes that (1) the disintegration of the tribal system does not immediately result in the emergence of a nationality - a fairly broad and stable ethnic entity which fundamentally differs from tribal entity and factually constitutes the basic form of pre- national entity; (2) historically, one can trace the existence of intermediate forms between the tribal entity and nationality, which can be called "territorial" population groupings arising on the basis of the transformation of territorial-tribal entities.

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